Colleges of Education: A National Portrait

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Colleges of Education: A National Portrait (2018) provides a comprehensive picture of colleges of education: the work that they do, the people who do that work, and the students they serve. Because teacher preparation is so important, it describes in detail the key trends and challenges in meeting the nation’s need for highly skilled teachers. The report also portrays the full spectrum of undergraduate and graduate programs, research, and service that occur within schools, colleges, and departments of education.

The report, an exclusive AACTE member benefit, highlights several key themes:

• Colleges of education reflect the scope and scale of education in the United States and make significant contributions to the American system of education through teaching, research, and service.
• Enrollment declines challenge colleges of education to meet the needs of America’s schools, especially in key fields such as math, science, and special education.
• Despite considerable efforts to recruit and retain diverse students, those preparing to become PK-12 educators are not as diverse as the schools and students they will serve.
• An expected wave of faculty retirements will present both challenges and opportunities as colleges of education evolve to meet the needs of new generations of aspiring educators and of the changing schools and other educational organizations where they will work.

The report is a valuable reference document for anyone needing to understand the history and current state of colleges or education or to benchmark their own college or program against national trends.

This report is available to AACTE members only.